The noxious
AFA sent me an email encouraging me to send Safeway an email telling them to remain "neutral in the culture war." I just love (to hate) that phrase. They said the exact same thing about
Pepsico. Funny, encouraging private companies to be neutral on a topic that they themselves feel very strongly about. Silence the opposition! Whatever.
Safeway wants you to know how proud they are to support homosexuality. In fact, they want you to support it too! [Because, you know, advertising bigotry doesn't really work anymore.]
In Safeway branded stores across America, Safeway is placing large posters encouraging you to celebrate the gay lifestyle with them during the entire month of June. [And by "celebrate", the AFA would like you to think that you'll be up on that bus, half-nude, dancing to techno-music.]
Safeway is dedicating itself to promoting homosexuality. An AFA supporter in New Mexico reported to us that her local store also included a "WE SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE" poster. When she returned a day later to take a photograph of it, it had been removed because of the huge number of complaints by local customers. [Huh? Linking the charge of Safeway's dedication with the story of Safeway giving in to pressure from homophobes doesn't really make much sense. I suppose the idea is that those repugnant posters will be removed if enough shoppers complain. Sort of like when the ACLU wants biblical references removed from public buildings, except nothing in the consitution prevents private corporations from supporting sexual diversity.]
Safeway owns and operates 1,516 stores in the U.S. Safeway operates under these names: Safeway, Dominick's, Vons, Genuardi's, Randall's, and Tom Thumb. [I'll be shopping at Vons with (gay) pride.]
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The noxious AFA sent me an email encouraging me to send Safeway an email telling them to remain "neutral in the culture war." I just love (to hate) that phrase. They said the exact same thing about Pepsico. Funny, encouraging private companies to be neutral on a topic that they themselves feel very strongly about. Silence the opposition! Whatever.
What do you think happens to you when you die?
ReplyDeleteNothing? You just sleep and not wake up?
If that is what you think...How do you know that? How could you know that?
The reality is that you will die, and after that you will stand before the God that created you. Not long ago Americans considered it to be self-evident that we are created by our creator, and thus subject to His judgement. That would require us to live our life to please Him.
No one can do that on his/her own strength, and that is why Jesus died for you and me on the cross. His sacrifice made a way for us to be free from sin and death. I stood where you stand. I was once lost and unknowingly searching for truth.
One night I finally asked for forgiveness for the things I'd done that I knew were wrong and asked Jesus into my heart.
My spirit, witnessed with God's spirit and I knew that I knew that I knew I was forgiven, made clean and new, and was His child.
Don't let the world drag you down to hell. Continue to seek truth. I pray you give in to God's gentle calling before you close your eyes in death. If you do, you'll open them in glory and not in horror.
If you think the above to be foolish, again I ask the question: how can you be so sure there is no life after death?
very concerned
This has nothing to do with bigotry. Homosexuals choose a lifestyle, they are not born that way. Every study which has attempted to prove this has been proven untrue. If you really want to have pride in your lifestyle then quit trying to hide behind evolution or birth, shake your fist in the face of God and morality and go for it. But quit trying to find an excuse for your choices behind a gene that doesn't exist. Time to come out of the genome closet and just be what you are, a freewill being who doesn't care about what God has stated to be a grave sin. It's simpler this way and much more truthful. The rascist, homophobe, bigot argument may fool the politicians but the average person still doesn't buy it and never will. That said I hope you find the truth and that it will one day lead you to the ultimate truth, real life begins with repentance and submission to God as he has revealed Himself in His Word. My prayer is that you and millions of others will find that truth.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool that you guys come and try to save me with Jesus. Please pray hard for me that I may one day believe the crazy things you believe. Whenever you have the urge to go out and protest against gay pride etc., please just stay home and pray, because praying really works!
ReplyDeleteKris, on being gay, let me ask you: How old were you when you chose to be a heterosexual? 5? 10? 15? I'm really curious. You see, I don't remember when I supposedly chose myself, and the question really interests me. Do you think it's possible to choose to change one's sexual desires later in life, too? Like at 35. Can one just one day say, "I'll be a homosexual from today," and then your lust changes from one gender to the other just like that?
Bjørn,
ReplyDeleteI have added you to my prayer list.
I'll pray that God blesses you and your family, protects you and yours, and gives you many opportunities to see His Love manifested in your life.
And yes, Jesus is the only way to be saved. "for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we MUST be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Take care and be well
Craig (very concerned))
Craig, you did catch the sarcasm, or not?
ReplyDeleteEither way, what I mean is that the time you spend praying I hope is taken from the time you espouse your weird beliefs, including homophobia.
P.S. May I ask where you are from?
Bjorn,
ReplyDeleteYes I did catch the sarcasm.
However, I will be praying for you, just as people prayed for me before I asked for forgiveness and asked Jesus into my heart.
You are mistaken in your assumption that I fear homosexuals, I do not.
It is not a particular sin that will send a person to hell, but the rejection of God's way to escape sin and death that sends them there. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.
Death and eternity are much too important to relegate as trivial, but must be something you are totally confident that you have the correct answer.
Bjorn, please don't give up your search for the truth.
Craig
The truth, as you suggest to seek, is that I'd much rather go to Hell than to Heaven. If I met God when I died, I would tell him to his face how much I loathe him. Deceiver, avenger, murderer. Vain psychopath. I'd tell him that I'd really rather not sit here in Heaven, presumed to be a place of happiness, when my children, or someone else I loved when it really mattered, ended up in Hell for eternal torture. Bloody unjust. If I met God, I would be judging him for his work, as it were.
ReplyDeleteNot, of course, that I believe in him for a second. Rather, Heaven and Hell are invented by humans to persuade heathens to join them.
Here's a question for you, Craig: How come you believe in the Christian version of God, Heaven, and Hell? Why aren't you Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu? How do you know that they aren't the right description of "God's way"?
Bjorn,
ReplyDeleteMy heart is so very heavy at your anger toward God.
You don't know what you are saying. Bjorn, know that God is a merciful and just God and will not give up on us in spite of ourselves.
We can't blame God for the short comings of man. I don't know what caused your anger, but God is just a prayer away to forgive, heal, and to restore. That is not just a saying but my experience. I want you to know the real peace and joy that comes from finally submitting to His Lordship.
Please re-read my first post for the answer to your question.
Take care Bjorn.
Craig
Craig, the first of your posts does not explain why you are Christian, and not Jewish or something else. If you come back please explain that before anything else.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe in God. Not because I am angry with the fictitious writings about him in the Bible, but because there is no evidence whatsoever. There is also no need. If you want to convert me, please stick with the praying, because "praying really works." Repeating yourself here doesn't.
Oh, and I do know what I am saying. I am saying that if God existed and had done as described in the Bible, then I do not like him. You describe him as merciful and just. I say he is vengeful and vain. Did you even read the Old Testament?
Bjorn,
ReplyDeleteBefore I was saved and as a young child I was always in awe of God’s creation. I could see the Creator from His creation. I deeply admired the beauty of nature.
I was amazed at how animals have “instinct, ” how babies know how to drink milk right after birth, how a baby whale knows it should swim upward toward the air it never learned was there or how baby turtles are drawn to the ocean having never seen it.
It was easy for me to believe in an eternally existent God that does not have a beginning.
In contrast don’t you believe in eternally existent hydrogen that does not have a beginning?
I believed that the God of order created order and complexity.
Don’t you believe chaos and trillions of random bombardments created order and “computer like”
complexity in forming the first single cell organism? Don’t you also believe trillions of happenstance creates
complexity and higher forms of life?
I believe my Creator is God Almighty.
Don’t you believe your creator is hydrogen, random occurrences, and trillions upon trillions of
abnormalities?
I was raised in the catholic tradition and therefore believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, died on the cross,
and was raised again the third day, however I was not saved. I had no assurance that what I believed was
true. “Just do your best and hope for the best” was what I thought.
It wasn’t until I was confronted with my own mortality did I finally seek the God that created me.
I got married at a young age and had tremendous problems in my marriage.
I tried to make the marriage work but it is difficult in a one sided marriage and without God. Regrettably, I
fooled around on her. I told her that I was unfaithful which devastated my wife. What an insidious lie to say
to oneself that this lust is just for me and has nothing to do with my mate or God. Actions done contrary to God’s way reap terrible consequences.
Within a year of that, and while we were watching a documentary on natural disasters, it dawned on me…I WILL die one day…
not someday…but that day WILL come…then what?
“How can I know that I’ll go to heaven when I die?” I inquired of my wife in a rhetorical question. My wife, who I did not know at the time was raised going to church in her elementary school years, remembered what she learned in Sunday school. She explained that all I had to do was ask for forgiveness and asked Jesus into
my heart. I said “is that it? I’m gonna pray then.” My wife knowing my behavior smirked as if to say, “yah, right YOU’RE gonna pray.”
I told the Lord that I was sorry for what I had done to my wife, sorry for the way I had been living, and asked Him to come into my heart and change me. Immediately this wonderful peace enveloped me and I knew that I knew that I knew that I was a child of God. That started my walk with the Lord. The dramatic change in my life convicted my wife that she was not walking as she should. About three months later, my wife gave her heart to the Lord. She changed from a witch due to her past to a wife: a wonderful, loving, Godly
woman. My assurance that the God of the Bible is true is due to the fact that God’s Spirit witnesses with my Spirit, and I know without a doubt that God is real and that I have been adopted as His child. In addition, my life as well as the lives of others who have been “born again” have changed dramatically for the better, when such change was impossible and elusive before accepting God’s gift of Salvation. After reading the New Testament I realized that many teachings that I had learned as a catholic was contrary to the Word of God. I then sought a Church that would just preach the pure Word of God without compromise or distortion.
I also learned that the Bible consists of 66 different books, written by about 40 different authors, over a period of about 1,600 (one THOUSAND six HUNDRED) years and is yet one complete beautiful story. No other book does that, indicating divine inspiration. The Bible is also historically and geographically accurate.
It also contains amazing prophecies. CRAIG - CONTINUED NEXT BLOG
CONTINUED:
ReplyDeleteWho would have imagined a millennium ago that Jerusalem would be the focal point of great controversies? Another amazing prophecy we see unfolding before our eyes is mentioned in Revelations. That is the prophecy where no person can buy or sell without receiving a mark in their forehead or forearm. No other time in history do we have the ability to go to a cash-less society where our finical information can be impeded in our forehead or forearm with a microchip. This recent financial crisis is bringing cries for globalization and a worldwide monetary system. Hatred of Christians and Jews are increasing all over the world, and here in this free country, there are calls to curtail religious freedoms. Also
the wars and rumors of wars, and the increased frequency of earthquakes in different places are mentioned as signs of the end times.
Other religions are mans way to get to God, true Christianity is God's way to restore fallen man. True
Christianity is a relationship with the God who created you by God adopting you as His own.
You say that the Old Testament shows a vengeful and vain God, however, that could not be further from the truth.
You have to read the Old Testament in context of its times. During those times where cruelty abounded,
Gods mercy is established. Take for instance the "eye for an eye" scripture. It is God putting restrictions on retaliation and leaving judgment to God not man. God also explains the sanctity of life in establishing that no one is to kill another human being no matter how much they thought that person deserved it. Judgement
belongs to Him that judges perfectly. (God established governments to meet out Gods just judgement and to maintain civility.) God also established respect for women, which was made even clearer by Jesus and the
New Testament. Those were radical ideas at the time. Contrarily, Women are still treated as second class citizens today were the Gospel is not established. God reestablished how Women should be treated in the Old Testament. These are not the doings of a crazed god. Judgement does belong to God and peoples in the Old Testament were judged. Nineveh was spared Gods judgement because they repented and asked Gods forgiveness. Sodom and Gomorrah was not spared because of their rebellion against God.
You believe God to be vain?
Who do you consider worthy of praise?
The Perfect, Pure, Holy, All-powerful, All knowing and omnipresent God is worthy of all praise, honor, and worship. No human comes close to being worthy of adoration, yet many people worship and adore imperfect
people.
Don't let your pride and your lifestyle deceive you into hoping there is nothing after death.
If you hang on to your hatred of God until you die you will not scold the omnipotent God as you suppose,
but you will bow your knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. If you do it now, the benefits are terrific and eternal,
if you do it after death, misery forever with no chance of repentance.
Like it or not or believe it or not, God makes the rules not us. Submit to His Lordship and be blessed, refuse and be cursed.
The choice is yours.
I again ask, How do you KNOW there is no life after death? Obviously you don't know all things, nor have
you died a couple of days and came back to life. Don't be foolish with your eternity because you consider
yourself superior to those that have faith in God and superior to God himself. Pride is a very dangerous thing.
Remember Bjorn, you will be dead a lot longer than you will be alive, I guarantee it.
God Loves you Bjorn and He's not giving up on you. Always remember that it is NEVER too late to start
doing what's right or to call on Him.
"For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." Psalm 86:5
Still very concerned,
Craig
In contrast don’t you believe in eternally existent hydrogen that does not have a beginning?
ReplyDeleteWhat? No, that's nonsense.
Don’t you believe chaos and trillions of random bombardments created order and “computer like” complexity in forming the first single cell organism? Don’t you also believe trillions of happenstance creates complexity and higher forms of life?
Of course not. That is not what abiogenesis and evolution says.
Don’t you believe your creator is hydrogen, random occurrences, and trillions upon trillions of abnormalities?
You have some funny notions about what scientists believe, I must say. There is no way you could have gotten those ideas in a science class, so where? At the creation museum?
was raised in the catholic tradition and therefore believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, died on the cross, and was raised again the third day
So, if you had been raised as a muslim, then you would believe that Muhammed was Allah's profet.
“How can I know that I’ll go to heaven when I die?”
But you never questioned whether Heaven exists?
The Bible is also historically and geographically accurate.
It certainly is not. Many scholars have shown that the Bible is neither of these things, and on top of that it is internally inconsistent (e.g. Genesis 1 vs. 2, or the two different genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament).
Hatred of Christians and Jews are increasing all over the world, and here in this free country, there are calls to curtail religious freedoms.
From my side of it hatred towards atheists is really spiking. In the US we have just had an administration who have given tons of money to religious organizations, and these organizations continue to attempt to put their marks on secular parts of society, and to breach the separation of church and state. Religious freedoms need to be curtailed when they are in opposition to freedom of speech, for example.
Also the wars and rumors of wars, and the increased frequency of earthquakes in different places are mentioned as signs of the end times.
You must be kidding. Grasping for straws here.
You say that the Old Testament shows a vengeful and vain God, however, that could not be further from the truth. (...) You believe God to be vain?
It says right there in the ten commandments that he is a jealous god. There are of course many examples of how he tormented everyone else but his chosen people. The plagues of Egypt, for example. Very unjust and cruel.
Who do you consider worthy of praise?
People who do good.
No human comes close to being worthy of adoration, yet many people worship and adore imperfect people.
No adoration for me. Accepting that we humans are imperfect (of course) does not mean than we can't praise those who do good (perhaps we mean different things by that word).
The choice is yours.
That's a relief.
I again ask, How do you KNOW there is no life after death?
I don't know it, I believe it. Why?
1) There is no evidence of life after death.
2) There is no evidence of gods (all observations can be better explained by other theories).
3) The multitude of different religions suggest it's all made up by humans.
Remember Bjorn, you will be dead a lot longer than you will be alive, I guarantee it.
That's exactly what I believe. Fully dead. Not awake in Hell, or anything like that.
"For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee."
That's not true mercy, only forgiving those who weren't convinced in this life. If God loves me, and is omniscient, then why would he ever condemn me to eternal suffering for not believing in him in my short time on Earth? Why does he test me? That is no way to behave to the ones we love.
Bjorn,
ReplyDeleteYou posted:
"In contrast don’t you believe in eternally existent hydrogen that does not have a beginning?
What? No, that's nonsense."
I learned in Public School that the material that existed for the "Big bang" was hydrogen.
If that is nonsense, where did the material for the "big Bang" come from?
Craig
I learned in Public School that the material that existed for the "Big bang" was hydrogen.
ReplyDeleteIf that is nonsense, where did the material for the "big Bang" come from?
Craig
"for" the Big Bang? What does that even mean?
About 10e-6 seconds after the Big Bang protons formed, and protons are of course hydrogen ions (H+). So, nonsense.
Where did the material come from? Well, according to that theory, it came from the energy that was there initially... but do go to Wikipedia and read all about it yourself. Just note that when you come back and argue how it must be wrong, or that it points to God, or anything else, I will not be defending BB, because I am not a big fan of that model myself.
Bjorn,
ReplyDeleteConcerning what caused the "big bang" you state: "it came from the energy that was there initially.." but your not a big fan of that. However, you don't offer what explanation you are a fan of.
There is no evidence that Energy or matter comes from no where, so it had to come from somewhere.
The well accepted law of conservation of energy states that Energy is neither created nor destroyed only altered in form.
HOWEVER, there are two exceptions to that law.
One is in a Nuclear Reaction where a small amount of mass (less than 1%) is converted into energy.
The second is when God used his infinite Energy to create mass.
It is fitting that Einstein used light as the constant to show how energy is converted into mass in his famous E = Mc^2 equation. It is metaphorically fitting because
"God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
I had a friend who told me years ago, that no matter how far fetched the idea that Energy or Hydrogen was "just there" BEFORE the big bang, or how random collisions of chemicals and lighting could produce the first genetic CODE, or how organisms "evolve" into another creature or plant by mutation, he believed in evolution because he doesn't believe in God and here we are.
About twenty years later his brother died which led him to think of his own mortality.
Yes, he too gave his heart to the Lord, and he now knows God as his Creator. My friends Salvation gives me hope for yours.
Bjorn, I'm sure you realize that you skirted the issue of where the matter or Energy that was used to create the "big bang" came from.
This is my last post but not my last prayer for you. Until, you take your last breath, there is great hope. You cannot say to God that you did not know of His Love or way to escape hell.
I do agree with you on one thing, it is a relief to know that we have a choice to be saved from sin and eternal torment.
If anyone posts another comment claiming to be "Craig" it will not be from me.
Take care Bjorn,
Craig
However, you don't offer what explanation you are a fan of.
ReplyDeleteThat's because I don't know. Alex Vilenkin's model is appealing, but I can't say more than that.
The well accepted law of conservation of energy states that Energy is neither created nor destroyed only altered in form.
HOWEVER, there are two exceptions to that law.
One is in a Nuclear Reaction where a small amount of mass (less than 1%) is converted into energy.
The second is when God used his infinite Energy to create mass.
In nuclear reactions there is conservation of energy: from energy in the form of mass to energy in the form of photons.
How do you know God has infinite energy? It's not science, and I think it doesn't say that in the Bible (not that the latter would mean anything to me). Besides, if God use some energy to create mass, then there's still conservation of energy. Very elementary physics.
About twenty years later his brother died which led him to think of his own mortality.
Yes, he too gave his heart to the Lord, and he now knows God as his Creator. My friends Salvation gives me hope for yours.
I'm fully aware of my own mortality. It is part of my world view, and while I hope to live very long, I accept that life is finite, and that makes me try to live life to the fullest.
Bjorn, I'm sure you realize that you skirted the issue of where the matter or Energy that was used to create the "big bang" came from.
Sure, because I don't know.
I do agree with you on one thing, it is a relief to know that we have a choice to be saved from sin and eternal torment.
No, what I meant was that it's a relief that it's my choice rather than yours, which I take it to mean that religious people should take their proselytizing elsewhere. Or nowhere, if you don't mind.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTwo identical comments have been removed because they contained anti-semitic hate-speech and were irrelevant to the thread topic.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note, there is no exception to the law of conservation of energy, it CANNOT be created or destroyed only be transformed. Also to note the first exception stated by Craig is not an exception as it does not involve the creation or destruction of energy just the conversion (transformation).
ReplyDelete